On this date of April 18, 2016, was held in Kigali, a meeting of the Ministers of Information and Communication Technologies, the Directors General of Telecommunications regulatory authorities and representatives of the Telecom operators from member states of Smart Africa.

The meeting's main objective was to adopt a regional telecommunications framework aiming to implement the " One Africa Network", in response to the decisions taken at the third meeting of the "Smart Africa" Board held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on 31^st January 2016.

Were present at the meeting, the representatives of Côte d'Ivoire, Gabon, Kenya, Mali, Uganda, Rwanda, Senegal, South Sudan and Chad, all members of the Smart Africa Alliance. The meeting was chaired by the Rwanda Minister of Youth and ICT, with Vice-Chair the Malian Minister of Digital Economy and Communication and spokesman of the government, and as rapporteurs Ivory Coast, Kenya and Gabon.

In his introductory remarks, Dr. Hamadoun Touré, Executive Director of Smart Africa Secretariat stressed that this initiative will bring the continent towards the goal of integration as desired by the founding fathers of the African Union. This initiative is certainly a step up towards greater integration of the African continent. He appealed to all countries of the African Union to join this initiative as soon as possible.

In his welcoming speech, Minister Jean Philbert Nsengimana of Rwanda, welcomed the delegation and said the initiative that was initially deployed in Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda and South Sudan was a major factor of integration of the region and resulted in a rapid increase in traffic between these countries. He also noted that cross-border traffic data now represents greater economic value than the exchange of goods, according to a study by McKinsey.

This initiative will now be extended to all 11 Member States of the Smart Africa Alliance.

The regional framework, which only applies to traffic originating and terminating within the member States of Smart Africa, is such that:

·   Surcharges on International Incoming Traffic will not apply;

· There will be no additional charges on account of roaming within the region during an observation period, which will go until July 2016.

·  There will be no charges for receiving calls while roaming for the first 300 minutes per subscriber per month.

·  The retail price per minute for calls in the area will be capped at the higher local rates.

·  Calls from subscribers traveling in the States Members of Smart Africa will be charged at local rates in the network of the visited country. The subscribers will therefore benefit from prevailing calling rates of the visited network similar to what local subscribers pay.

All member countries agree to establish anti-fraud systems and measures against the grey traffic. The countries also pledge to identify all subscribers through SIM registration.

Speaking on the sidelines of the session, the Malian Minister of Digital Economy and Communication and spokesperson of the Government, Dr. Choguel Kokala Maiga asked all the key stakeholders to spare no efforts in order to advance this initiative and meet the expectations of Heads of State and citizens who are waiting for this initiative to start.

The deadline for implementation is May 9, 2016, after which a monitoring and evaluation period of three (3) months will be observed. A full report will be presented in July 2016, during the African Union Summit.

Operators within the region shall be required to re-negotiate their bilateral agreements to ensure the full implementation of the One-Network Area.

About Smart Africa

SMART Africa is a bold and innovative commitment to accelerate sustainable socio-economic development on the continent, ushering Africa into a knowledge economy through affordable access to Broadband and usage of Information and Communications Technologies.

The Smart Africa Manifesto aims to put ICT at the center of National Socio-economic development agenda of member countries; improve access to ICT especially Broadband; to improve accountability, efficiency and openness through ICT promoting the introduction of advanced technologies in telecommunication; to put Private Sector first; and to leverage ICT to promote sustainable development.

Founded in 2013, the Smart Africa is headquartered in Kigali. Smart Africa is made of all African countries adhering to the Smart Africa Manifesto. Its founding members include the African Union (AU Commission, NEPAD Agency, specialized institutions and Regional Economic Communities), International Telecommunications Union (ITU), World Bank, African Development Bank (AfDB), UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), GSM Alliance (GSMA), ICANN, African Telecommunications Union (ATU) and the Private Sector.

<link http: www.smartafrica.org>www.smartafrica.org